Crash Course in boat restoration...

Hello every one, I am sure most if not all of you will laugh, it's ok I have been laughing at myself for being so "trusting".
Long story short, I decided to buy an inexpensive bass boat so my father and I could have a little more personal time. I found one after a bout a month of looking, cost me 1,500USD,a 1981 15ft Cobia, it looked great and fired right up. I'm a garage monkey so I assumed knowing a lot about cars would also give me an upper hand in boating. Well I got it home and after doing some very minor repairs (mostly wiring), we decided to take it out....and...we paddled for a few hours until we got a tow back to the launch. Turns out we ran out of fuel, I put 6 gallons in it before we launched and only had it running for at most 30 minutes all together. Turns out my #3 cylinder is completely dead absolutely zero compression. I almost had a heart attack when I realized how mush a new/used outboard was going to run me. So I decided while I am saving up to have this one rebuilt (it's an 81 evinrude 90hp) I noticed some very funky odors coming from below deck and also noticed some obvious sagging in the deck itself ( I believe my judgement was a wee bit clouded while purchasing). I have restored a few old hot rods and decided to give the boat a good once over. Absolutely everything minus the fiberglass hull itself is so rotted it crumbles in my fingers. After completly gutting the hull down to the fiberglass, I had kind of an idea. The hull is 6'9" wide how hard would it be to literally cut it in half and add 2' in the middle to make it 8'9" wide? I know I would have to basically form it to be a deeper V then it is now (keeping with the contour). But I have no idea if I could do this while maintaining the integrity to take it on water and NOT have it fall apart. If any one has any ideas suggestions or comments please feel free to leave them. I'm going to post pictures as soon as I get past the teardown stage. Thank you kindly.

Thank you so much for the advice given. I have decided to restore the boat to a "like new" condition and NOT to modify the hull (I am so glad I asked before I broke out the saw). I'm still in the tear down phase but will start posting updates and pictures soon. Thank you again.

Re: Crash Course in boat restoration...

Changing the beam would not be a good idea as it will change the way it floats, and a huge undertaking anyway. 8'6" is max legal trailer width without permits also. Lengthening hulls has been done but that too is a major undertaking... If your unhappy with the hull as it is, it's best that you strip it of everything good ( steering, controls, cleats, ect... ) and take it to the landfill.. The 'rude 90 might actually be more work/ cost than it is worth if you can't do the work yourself.. The parts for it are most likely not that costly and as in many cases, the labor is the killer..

My advice is to find the hull you want in the dimensions that you want, can be runabout, bowrider or even a bass boat. You can build anything into anything, it does not matter what you start out with. A hull resto will run $1,500 and up so that's why I suggest finding the right hull before you start.

Re: Crash Course in boat restoration...

Stay with the hull as is and fix the internal structure. Not a good idea to try to 'mend' 2 feet in the middle to widen it. It will be challenging enough just to replace th existing structure.

Re: Crash Course in boat restoration...

Welcome to iBoats!

Sorry for your "Awakening"! If you decide to restore this boat you should be aware that you will be investing approx. 200 hrs of hot itchy labor and $2-4K in money, depending on the costs of the motor repair. So...for a total cost of $5K you'll have a real nice boat that should last a good long time. Even if you went out and bought a boat for $5K there's no guarantee that it would not have the same issues. I would strongly advise you NOT to split the hull and attempt to widen her. Unless you are an expert with fiberglass lamination.

Let us know what you decide to do.

Re: Crash Course in boat restoration...

You just bought a $1500 education in boat buying and maybe restoration/repair.

I agree that you could pay a lot more for a boat and still need the same repairs.

You can probably repair your boat to a safe/seaworthiness for $1500 (hull only, motor will be extra), nothing fancy and use it for quite a few years. By doing this you'll learn how boats are built and repaired and will gain hands on experience. You may even become addicted to restoring boats and start looking for another one after you finish this one... and you'll know exactly what to look for when buying your next boat.

Don't try to split or widen the hull, there's a lot of structural engineering that goes into designing a boat.

Your scenario is a common one we see often in this forum, a dozen or more times a year.